Interview: Cherry Li  Photos: by Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center

<Grand Hotels>: At the very beginning you worked as general manager of the Swissôtel Kunshan, and later you joined in Swissotel and resorts. Since then, 8 years have passed. You have worked as the general manger of Swiss Hotels & Resorts for 8 years. So the hotel of Swiss brand may have some extraordinary significance for you. Could you please talk about it?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: Swissôtel, part of the FRHI group, including Fairmont & Raffles hotels & resorts have allowed me to grow by providing opportunities with a strong focus on training and development. With our roots in Switzerland, we embrace the countries iconic features, natural, green, quality etc. We also want to be responsible to the environment we all live in. Swissôtel believe asking guests if they want to have fresh towels or not each day is no longer enough. We have Green Ambassadors and committees established in all our hotels whose sole purpose is to develop and improve environmental awareness and implement better practices such as buying as many products and produce within a 100 km radius of the hotels. The company has given me the opportunity to work in many interesting place, most recently I have completed an assignment in Russia.

<Grand Hotels>: What opportunities do you have when you chose to work in Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center? What are your comments on this hotel? What is it that attracts you most at Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center? Do you think in what aspects you can better improve yourself in this hotel? And what is your expectation of the hotel in next stage?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: Swissôtel Beijing is one of Beijing iconic hotels, for 23 years it has been at the forefront of the Beijing hotel industry and through the entire time Swissôtel has played the key management role. I did not hesitate to accept an offer to manage the property, following in the footsteps of some of our companies key leaders, and joining one of Swissôtel’s most successful hotels. I am always surprised at how big our hotels foot print is, taking up a major part of the block and sitting above DongSiShitiao station, its location is one of the best in the city, of course 23 years ago it might have been seen as a bit “out” of the city but today on the second ring road it is well and truly downtown Beijing

<Grand Hotels>: Nowadays, the high-end hotel brands have settled in China one after another, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Compared with high-end hotels of other brands, what are the competitive advantages of your hotel?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: The hotel sector in China is very competitive with many choices, Swissôtel has an excellent reputation for quality, it is a well respected international hotel company. We truly believe that the way we look after our colleagues is critical to our success. We insist that all our managers share our philosophy on being caring, humble, motivational and consistent in all our contact with guests and colleagues. Hospitality is a service industry, more than any other industry human resources is a crucial factor to the success of a hotel. Hotels are judged on the quality of service the staff deliver, the hotel industry is all about people, both clients and the staff that look after the guests needs. Swissôtel has a single minded strategy when it comes to human resources, to develop the individuals potential, and to provide skills training that best suites the individuals department, in order to deliver service of an exceptional standard.

<Grand Hotels>: During the past 23 years, your career path has spanned several cities, so what are your deepest and dearest thoughts and feelings?  In adapting to different cultures in different countries, what have you been done to integrate your own hotel management concepts with local culture? And during this process, presumably there will be some interesting episodes, could you talk about it?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: It has always been my China dream to live in Beijing, one of the truly great cities of the world, now here I am, living and working at Swissôtel Beijing. My China adventure started 9 years ago when I accepted a position in a small government owned hotel in Danyang, Jiangsu. At that time I was the only westerner in the city and as such I was called upon to participate in many community activates, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially giving the key note speech at the local school for their 50 years anniversary, the children, whom most of them had never seen a westerner before except on TV, were very excited and appreciative.

<Grand Hotels>: What qualities do you think professional hotel managers must have? What do you think are the real service spirits? And out of them, which are derived from the brand of "Swiss Hotels & Resorts"?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: Being an international hotel operator, it is important that there is a uniform culture of service throughout the hotel. With key training programs designed at our Zurich base to provide a consistency in our service delivery whilst not restricting spontaneous colleague performance and also being respectful to local traditions and culture. It is also true that the modern Human Resources Departments plays a more business critical role than perhaps just 10 years ago. Today we understand fully that our most precious asset and indeed, also our most expensive asset is our people. Our Service must be pro active, provide innovation in training whist managing productivity.

<Grand Hotels>: Usually, what do you want most badly to share with your team members? What spirits, attitudes and problem-solving ways do you expect from your team under your leadership? And what impress you most in discovering the highlights from them?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: The development of Chinese nationals is our prime focus. In the current climate there are too many hotels and not enough qualified local talent to meet the demand. At Swissôtel we believe we must play a proactive role in recognizing and developing Chinese colleagues of high potential, not just for today but to supply senior managers to cope with the future. We are recognizing such colleagues now and enrolling them into various training programs. Also, we intend to send a number of them to our sister hotels, not just in China but throughout the world. This is designed to provide them with a learning opportunity in established markets, such as our own base in Switzerland whilst becoming even more inducted into the brand culture.

<Grand Hotels>: Most hotels have provided more than the services of banquet and housing, and the industry competition tend to be increasingly diversified especially in local delicious foods and multi-culture. Therefore, in the overall operation of the hotel, would you plan to devote more to delicious foods with local characteristics?

Mr. Stephen Fewell: At our hotel we want to promote dishes that reflect our Swiss heritage, as such we feature an authentic Cheese Fondue - Swiss Cheese Fondue @ Café Swiss, Similar to Chinese hot pot, fondue is a traditional dish from Switzerland, simple in preparation-the cheese is melted from the bottom of the pot, skewer a fresh baked bread cube using the unique “Swiss” fondue forks, accompanied by crunchy pickled cucumber, small potatoes and cherry tomatoes. Another key item on our menu is the Original Raclette - Raclette is a meal that is well known as a classic indigenous Swiss dish. Traditionally, the cheese is melted by the grill, then scraped onto a plate of potatoes and pickles

《大酒店》：从最早作为昆山瑞士酒店总经理加入瑞士酒店及度假村到现在已经有8年的时间了，曾多次担任瑞士酒店及度假村的总经理，想必在这8年里，瑞士品牌酒店对于你来说有些非比寻常的意义，能否谈及一下呢？

史蒂芬先生: 瑞士酒店品牌属于FRHI 酒店国际集团，旗下包括费尔蒙酒店及度假村、莱佛士酒店及度假村。这为我个人在训练和发展方面提供大量的机会。该品牌源于瑞士，整个集团着重于瑞士标志性特色，如自然，天然，有品质等等。我们同样也本着对生活环境负责的态度。瑞士酒店认为每天更换毛巾是不再必要的行为。我们所有的瑞士品牌酒店都有专门的绿色形象大使和相关委员会，他们的唯一目的是开发提升人们的环保意识，并且更好的将环保意识用到实践当中。这就好像是我们买东西，而制造地就在购物100km范围以内。公司给我提供了大量的机会让我能够去很多有意思的地方工作，最近我和俄罗斯的分部刚完成签约。

《大酒店》：是什么样的契机让您选择来到北京港澳中心瑞士酒店呢？您又是怎么看待这家酒店呢？它有哪些地方非常吸引你？您觉得贵酒店在哪些方面有比较好的提升空间呢？而下一阶段您对酒店的期望又将是什么呢？

史蒂芬先生: 北京的瑞士酒店作为北京这座城市酒店的标志之一，在过去的23年我们一直是北京酒店行业的先驱并且扮演者着至关重要的角色。跟随着酒店其他几位领导的脚步，我毫不犹豫地抓住这次来北京工作的机会，并且成为北京瑞士酒店的一员（作为瑞士品牌中名号响亮的酒店之一）。我一直感到惊奇的是，我们酒店在这23年来取得的变化之大，如今它已经是坐落于市中心，并且紧邻东四十条的标志建筑了，虽然这个地处二环的宝地在23年前看来是有点偏离城市中心，但如今，这里占有绝对的市中心位置。

《大酒店》：目前在高端酒店品牌纷纷入驻中国，竞争形势也是日趋激烈，与其他品牌的高端酒店相比，贵酒店品牌的竞争的优势在哪里？

史蒂芬先生: 从酒店的在品质上讲，瑞士酒店在中国区凭借着非常不错口碑，一直在激烈的酒店市场中保持着强劲的竞争力，它非常具体化的反映出我们这个国际品牌的形象。我们真挚的相信，对待员工的方式也是酒店成功运营的重要因素。在对待客人和员工的问题上，管理者始终坚信关心哲学，谦逊的，激励的和始终如一的问候。热情好客在酒店行业起着决定因素。酒店的好坏取决于员工们展现的服务态度，酒店行业的宗旨关乎于“人”，无论是客户还是员工，都是以顾客的需求为初衷。为的就是达到更好的服务水准，瑞士酒店在人力资源方面的策略是一心一意，发觉任何潜在的需求，并且有正对性地为各部门提供的培训。

《大酒店》：23年来，您的职业轨迹也可谓是跨越多座不同的城市，这期间您感触最深的是什么？在适应不同国家文化的同时，您又是如何去将自己的酒店管理理念与当地的人文文化融合呢？期间想必会有一些比较有趣的小插曲，能否谈及一下呢？

史蒂芬先生: 在北京这个国际大城生活是我的长久以来的梦想，现在，我的梦想实现了，并且真切地感受着在北京的工作与生活。我的中国职业生涯开始于9年前，最开始是在江苏丹阳的一家国有酒店工作。在那个时候我是那座城市里唯一一个西方人，所以我总是被叫出去参加社区活动。比如说当地一所学校的在50周年庆典上邀请我做演讲，因为第一次在电视外面看到一个活生生的老外的关系，那些可爱的孩子们非常兴奋和开心。

《大酒店》：您觉得职业酒店人必须具备些什么呢？您认为什么才是真正的服务精神？其中哪些领悟是源自于“瑞士酒店及度假村”这个品牌呢？

史蒂芬先生: 作为一个酒店管理者，有一套服务理念贯穿酒店的各个角落是非常重要的。这套训练体系是由我们Zurich总部策划，可以使每个人在保护当地文化的基准上的服务态度可以达到一致。现在的人力管理部门所执行的角色要比10年前重要多了。此时的我们终于明白了人才是最宝贵的资源。我们的服务一定要保持活跃，在训练方面提供更多的创新。

《大酒店》：平时您最希望和您的团队分享些什么？您希望在您的带领下，您的团队呈现出怎样的精神面貌、工作态度以及解决问题的思维方式？从他们身上发掘亮点，让您感悟最深刻的是什么?

史蒂芬先生: 中国的快速发展被我们所看重。现在的行情是很多酒店根本无法满足基本需求。我们在培训中国籍员工的时候一定会在组织和开发方面保持着积极主动，不仅仅是为了现在更是为了未来的长久发展。我们意识到把员工送去做最好的系统培训。同时，我们会将原公司送到兄弟酒店，甚至国外接受更好的培训。这么设定是为了让他们在现在的市场基础上得到更多的学习机会，比如说我们瑞士训练基地也是更加找着重于品牌文化。

《大酒店》：大部分商家已经不仅仅只是在出售宴会与住房服务，行业竞争日益趋向特色美食与多元文化的多面竞争。所以从酒店整体的运营把控上，是否会对美食对特色菜肴各地风情有更多的投入？

史蒂芬先生: 我们酒店想推广一些关于瑞士特色的美食，比如：在我们酒店的瑞士咖啡厅将会呈现给大家正宗的瑞士芝士火锅，这道菜是最知名的瑞士料理了，类似于中国的火锅。特定的芝士放在锅子里加热、熔化，待芝士变成稠稠的液体状之后，再用专用的芝士火锅餐叉取一小块新鲜出炉的面包与腌制过后的脆黄瓜、樱桃小番茄、土豆一起加入锅中。我们菜单上还有一道地道的瑞士拉克莱特 芝士—通俗来说，就是烘烤过的奶酪切块放入土豆和咸菜中。